Condition

Just like any other type of collector, baseball card collectors want to own quality items.

So they're willing to pay higher prices for higher quality cards.​

Buyers and sellers should focus on several key factors that professional graders look at such as:

​Centering - From top to bottom and left to right, how well is the card centered? Centering is probably the biggest concern for most collectors. On the front side, if a card exhibits no worse than 55/45 to 60/40 centering on the front and 75/25 on the back then it is usually considered a well-centered card.

Below you can see clear differences in centering between these two 1973 Topps Nolan Ryan cards.

The one on the left exhibits near-perfect centering while the one on the right favors the top and left parts of the card.​

Corners - You want to see sharp corners. Ideally "razor sharp" as many people in the hobby like to call them. Round corners are signs of heavy use and are considered eye soars.

Here is a look at a gem mint copy of Carl Yastrzemski's 1967 Topps #355 issue alongside close-ups of each of the four sharp corners.

Edges - Nice, clean edges go a long way to help a card's eye appeal. Sometimes you'll see vintage cards that were poorly cut and don't have nice clean edges. Professional graders (and collectors) will make exceptions for cards with known cut issues. But when possible, you want to see edges free of chipping and notches.

Both of the Jackie Robinson rookies below were graded PSA 9 Mint condition and exhibit very nice edges.

However, if you look closely at the 1949 Bowman, you can see the left-hand edges are not as smooth. That set is well-known to have rough cut issues so professional graders take that into consideration.​

Surface - One of the easiest ways to ruin a card's value is if it has a crease on it. Other issues like indentation, marking, scratching, staining and loss of gloss can significantly reduce a card's value.​

When you look at these two examples of Joe Dimaggio's 1941 Play Ball baseball card, you can quickly see differences in surface quality.

​The one on the left features rich coloring, no creasing, no chipping and has strong eye appeal.

But, the one on the right shows fading, a bit of staining, creasing and paper loss.​

You can always refer to cards listed for sale online as a referenceonly. See what a Gem Mint 10 or NM-MT 8 looks like by finding current examples listed for sale.

But please be careful and remember those are only references.

It's just too tough to notice some condition issues, especially surface and gloss issues, by looking at your card with the naked eye and comparing it to a professionally graded copy online.

Remember: Professional graders use high-tech optical equipment when reviewing them and grading them. They can see errors you can't.

Graded Cards

​Since we looked at condition as a key value factor, it's important that we look at grading, too.

​After all, professional graders do nothing but judge the condition and authenticity of cards.

Collectors will generally pay more for graded cards versus non-graded or "raw" cards.

They're paying for the peace of mind that someone has professionally judged the card to be authentic and in a certain condition.

With raw cards, it's sometimes tough for a buyer and seller to agree on a card's condition and therefore a price.

Or even agree if a card is authentic in the first place.

Professional grading companies work hard to eliminate that doubt.

There are three main professional grading companies that compete in the vintage baseball card hobby:

PSA is generally thought to be the leader in the vintage card circle but there are many who prefer SGC's dark-colored holders.​

Errors

One of the funner things about this hobby, in my opinion, is the ability for a printing error to affect a card's price.

But not every type of error will increase a card's price.

So it's important to distinguish between the different types first:

1) Corrected errors: the manufacturer catches the error and corrects it but not before some versions with the error have already made it into circulation; those error cards in circulation are fewer and more rare​

2)Uncorrected errors: the manufacturer doesn't correct the issue and therefore only one version of the card exists in circulation

Typically, only the first situation will result in higher than usual prices.

The reasoning?

It's because two or more different versions of a card now exist.

And collectors are willing to pay more for the rarer, uncorrected error version.​

Let's take a look at some examples of both:​

Corrected Error Cards (ERR)

Arguably the most sought after error card of them all is the T206 Joe Doyle with "NAT'L'" printed at the bottom.

When the card was printed, Doyle was a pitcher for the New York Highlanders of the American League.

But some cards slipped through production and made it into collector hands with the term "NAT'L" printed on them as if to signify he was part of the National League.

The company quickly caught the error, chipped off the "NAT'L" from the printing plate and printed the remainders without it.​

That small error results in huge prices.

How much so?

A copy of this card in just PSA 3 VG condition is estimated to fetch $550,000!

Think about that for a second...

...that small error equates to roughly more than half a million dollars.

Uncorrected Error Cards (UER)

These types of cards are more oddities than anything...

Do you notice anything weird about the image of Hank Aaron on his 1957 Topps baseball card?

​Hank Aaron batted right-handed.

However, Topps reversed the image of the photo negative on the card so it looks like he's batting lefty.

But since they never bothered to correct this issue and all of his 1957 Topps cards were printed that way, it's not rare.

It's still valuable because of who he is, but not nearly as valuable had Topps quickly corrected this issue leaving only a few of his cards like this in circulation.​

The point of all this is that you have to be very careful when sorting through your collection.

On the surface, it can appear you don't have anything of value if you don't recognize any star players in a stack of cards.

But you never know what may be lurking in there.

So you have to double and triple check to make sure you don't have an error card that could potentially be worth a lot of money.

Print Variations

Print variations occur for numerous reasons in this hobby.

They're not exactly errors. They have more to do with multiple different designs of the same card.

And like errors, they can cause prices of even common cards to soar.

Take, for instance, the 1958 Topps Bobby Richardson cards...

...the normal card will come with his name in white letters at the top.

But the rarer and more expensive variation shows his name in yellow letters.

In the chart below, notice the steady increasing difference in price between the white letter and yellow letter variation...

...that's because you have both the rarity of the yellow letter variation itself and finding one in mint condition coming into play at the same time.​

Price estimates taken from PSA online SMR price guide

A PSA 9 example of his white letter card is estimated to bring in $600.

But a PSA 9 example of his yellow letter variation is estimated to bring in $2500.

Almost five times as much!

Luckily for collectors, sometimes star players will even have variations for a particular card.

Ross Uitts

Ross is the founder of Old Sports Cards and has been collecting sports cards for over 30 years. He also loves to write about the hobby and has written for Beckett, Topps, SABR and of course, this website. Need help buying or selling cards or have a general question about the hobby? Contact him at [email protected]

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